{"id":176437,"date":"2025-04-08T00:17:23","date_gmt":"2025-04-08T00:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/recipes\/category-a-b\/barbecue\/lessons-from-the-pandemic-satchels-bbq\/"},"modified":"2025-04-08T00:17:23","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T00:17:23","slug":"lessons-from-the-pandemic-satchels-bbq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=176437","title":{"rendered":"Lessons from the Pandemic \u2014 Satchel&#8217;s BBQ"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">Every now and then I run into a fellow restaurant-owner somewhere around town, maybe at the GFS store or perhaps at the bank.\u00a0 After an exchange of pleasantries, there is typically a confession of current business operations (usually awful) followed by an exchange of rumors about other colleagues in the business (who\u2019s closing, who\u2019s retiring, who\u2019s missing) and ending with conjecture about how long this will continue (none of us have any idea).\u00a0 These experiences have led me to offer some unsolicited advice, aimed primarily (but not exclusively) to fellow independent restaurateurs, about lessons learned during this \u201cYear Of The Virus\u201d.\u00a0 It would be great if this stimulated some type of dialogue within the industry, but I have no illusions about the size of my readership (that\u2019s ok\u2026I prefer quality to quantity, and if you are reading this, you are high-quality, grade-A in my book).\u00a0 So here goes\u2026.<\/p>\n<ul data-rte-list=\"default\">\n<li>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">The best way to ensure the long-term happiness of all the members of your business\u2019 community (customers, staff, vendors, etc.) is <strong>to survive<\/strong>.\u00a0 Things are tough out there and they will likely worsen.\u00a0 Winter is coming, which might make the virus more lethal and definitely will make outdoor seating more difficult.\u00a0 And who knows when we will have access to an effective vaccine?\u00a0 Plan for a long duration in the wilderness.\u00a0 This may require tough decisions (raising prices, reduce staffing, limiting menu options, taking [another] pay-cut), but somehow, some way, you have to find a way to live to fight another day.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul data-rte-list=\"default\">\n<li>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">Have there been some painful, difficult decisions that you have been putting off for years?\u00a0 Now might be the time to <strong>bite the bullet<\/strong> and do what needs to be done.\u00a0 As a personal example, I closed our second location about two and a half years after opening.\u00a0 I had been hoping that somehow I could make that operation work, but once I saw the severity of the pandemic, the long-term health of the entire business (again, survival!) had to take precedence.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul data-rte-list=\"default\">\n<li>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">If you haven\u2019t already done so, <strong>embrace the online menu platform<\/strong>.\u00a0 And make it easy-to-use.\u00a0 Don\u2019t overpopulate it with menu items \u2013 no one wants to order food from something that looks like the Rosetta Stone.\u00a0 Keep it simple with nice pictures and a fairly small number of options.\u00a0 And test it out with friends and loved ones.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul data-rte-list=\"default\">\n<li>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\"><strong>Keep on keepin\u2019 on<\/strong>.\u00a0 The pandemic seems to have left some businesses paralyzed.\u00a0 They haven\u2019t re-opened, their website doesn\u2019t give a clear indication of what services they offer, the signage around the storefront is confusing.\u00a0 I get it.\u00a0 When the pandemic first hit, Satchel\u2019s closed for two weeks.\u00a0 I was scared and wasn\u2019t sure what the right thing to do was. \u00a0 But I ultimately decided that sitting on the sidelines (sorry for the sport metaphor) is not a good long-term strategy.\u00a0 Find a way to make it work: offer curbside service, offer delivery, offer online service.\u00a0 Do SOMETHING to keep your operations going and your staff employed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul data-rte-list=\"default\">\n<li>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\"><strong>Be forgiving<\/strong> \u2026 of yourself, of your staff, of your family, of everyone.\u00a0 We are all doing the best we can.\u00a0 Remember when Dr. Fauci (one of my heroes) and the CDC were initially unsure of the importance of wearing masks to prevent the spread of the virus?\u00a0 They eventually figured it out.\u00a0 It just took a bit of time.\u00a0 Every day, we are all being called upon to make similar decisions, with unclear information and in unusual circumstances.\u00a0 We will make mistakes and it will be frustrating.\u00a0 But don\u2019t start burning bridges.\u00a0 After all, Dr Fauci has turned out to be a pretty invaluable dude.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">One final piece of advice for folks everywhere, both in and outside of the restaurant business: please wear a mask and stay safe.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every now and then I run into a fellow restaurant-owner somewhere around town, maybe at the GFS store or perhaps at the bank.\u00a0 After an exchange of pleasantries, there is typically a confession of current business operations (usually awful) followed by an exchange of rumors about other colleagues in the business (who\u2019s closing, who\u2019s retiring, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[136],"tags":[2872,5200,18854,23717],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-176437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-barbecue","tag-bbq","tag-lessons","tag-pandemic","tag-satchels"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lessons from the Pandemic \u2014 Satchel&#039;s BBQ - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=176437\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lessons from the 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